Microbial pesticides utilize live microbial organisms as the active ingredient. Despite the relative high number of patents for microbial pesticides, only a few of them are approved for agricultural use. One of the problems in creating useful microbial pesticide compositions is that they must be formulated to retard the growth of the microbe while maintaining its viability over long periods of storage and be readily diluted or added to various application types.
Previous and current liquid microbial pesticides are aqueous based suspension formulations, such as the commercially available Poncho®/VOTiVO® and DoubleNickle LC and those disclosed in US 2011/0033436A1, assigned to Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH, which is directed to aqueous formulations of various spore forming bacteria and fungi. However, aqueous based formulations are problematic due to the volatile nature of water and the need for harsh preservatives. Further, aqueous based formulations are not compatible with other non-aqueous agricultural products, which presents difficulty in applying the microbial pesticide.
Nematodes, better known as roundworms and more specifically hookworms, pinworms, heart worms etc . . . , are found all over the earth in almost every environment. In fact, nematodes account for about 80% of all individual animals on earth. Over half of nematode species are parasitic and present a significant problem to both plant and animal health. One particularly costly group of nematodes is those that form root-knots in plants such as soybean, corn, sugar beet, potato and tomato crops. Root-knot infections can affect yield and aesthetic value of these crop plants leading to significant financial loss to growers. Currently, there is a dearth of safe and effective treatments for root-knot disease.
Thus, there is a need in the art for non-aqueous, non-oil liquid compositions containing live Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Preferably these compositions may be readily diluted and are capable of being mixed with a variety of other pesticides. Further these compositions should be capable of controlling nematode infections including infections of plants.